Shoplifting rates in Mansfield rise over the last year compared to figures during the Covid-19 pandemic

The figures, initially published by the Office for National Statistics in January and updated this week, show Mansfield has seen the sharpest rise in shoplifting than any other area of Nottinghamshire from September 2021 to September 2022.

However Nottinghamshire Police believe the rise could be due to the previous figures being taken during the Covid-19 pandemic – and the Mansfield policing team are already working to combat the problem.

Insp Kylie Davies, Nottinghamshire Police’s Mansfield district commander, said: “A significant rise in shoplifting offences is, of course, to be expected when compared with a period dominated by the Covid pandemic.

“However, while current rates of shoplifting in Mansfield are broadly comparable to the pre-Covid era, they are still too high.

“Retail businesses and other small independent traders are the lifeblood of our town, and we fully understand the expense and inconvenience these offences cause to them.

“Over the last few months, we have been working hard with our partners and local businesses to prioritise this issue. Indeed, some of these additional cases have been identified by my officers on uniformed and plain-clothed patrol.

“Understanding a disproportionate number of offences are committed by a small cohort of people – many of them dependent drug users – we have been working intensively on these individuals to secure successful criminal prosecutions and to put in place additional restrictions on their behaviour by the use of Criminal Behaviour Orders.

“These orders, granted by the courts, can prohibit offenders from carrying items commonly used to commit offences, ban them completely from areas of the town centre and compel them to get the help then need to change the direction of their lives.

“The good news is we currently have more officers working in Mansfield than we have for a long time and are making substantial progress on this issue.”

Coun Anne Callaghan, Nottinghamshire Council Labour member for Mansfield North, said: “It is a sad state of affairs that some people feel they need to resort to shoplifting out of desperation, no doubt due to the cost of living crisis, but the impact of this criminality is not victimless, and it will be felt in our local economy.”